The Russian government attacked the decision of the United States to send “advanced missile systems” to Ukraine, a major boost for the defenses of the attacked country. Moscow responded that the move “increases the risk” of a direct confrontation and that Washington is “deliberately adding fuel to the fire.” The dilemma occurs at a time when Russian troops seize more territory in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine.
On the 98th day of the war, Russian troops and Ukrainian forces are fighting in the center of Severodonetsk, a city that Moscow already controls most of, key to the total domination of the Lugansk region.
Faced with the advance of foreign soldiers in eastern Ukraine – where they are concentrating their offensive after the failed attempt to take the capital Kiev – US President Joe Biden agreed to send the invaded nation an advanced missile system that could accurately attack targets long-range Russians, as part of a $700 million weapons package.
For its part, Germany said it was joining the delivery of heavy weapons to kyiv, something that is increasing the fury of the Kremlin, which in turn warns of “unpredictable consequences.”
These are the main news of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this June 1:
- 7:33 (BOG) Ukraine would be losing up to a hundred soldiers a day
In an interview with the American television channel Newsmax, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, assured that his country’s forces currently suffer up to 100 deaths and 500 wounded every day.
“The situation is very difficult, we are losing between 60 and 100 soldiers per day as killed in action and around 500 people as wounded in action. So we maintain our defensive perimeters,” he said on camera.
The most complicated panorama is found in the east of Ukraine and the south of Donetsk and Lugansk, also eastern regions, as Zelensky pointed out.
- 7:14 (BOG) The UN, optimistic to alleviate the food crisis caused by the war
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, assured that he had the hope of alleviating the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine -in Africa it is where it has been most affected-, although he warned that “we have not yet reached” an agreement to unblock the shipments of basic products such as grain.
The diplomat indicated, however, that there is progress: “These are complex things and the fact that everything is interrelated makes the negotiation especially difficult.”
Guterres has been trying to negotiate what he calls a package to restart Ukraine’s food exports and Russia’s food and fertilizer exports.
- 06:57 (BOG) Only 20% of Severodonetsk is in Ukrainian hands, according to kyiv
The local army controls only 20% of the eastern city of Severodonetsk, the largest that the Ukrainian authorities still maintain in the Lugansk region, according to the mayor of that city, Oleksandr Stryuk.
However, the official said there is still hope that Ukrainian forces can prevent Russia from taking full control of the city.
“The 20% is being fiercely defended by our armed forces. Our troops are holding defensive lines. Attempts are being made to expel the Russian troops,” he said.
Stryuk explained that Russian forces now control 60% of the city, while the rest, another 20%, has become “no man’s land”.
- 06:32 (BOG) Pro-Russian forces say advancing on outskirts of Avdiivka
Kremlin-backed separatists say they are close to completely encircling the eastern city of Avdiivka, after cutting off one of its two main roads.
The village of Novosselovka 2, located on the outskirts of Avdiivka, “has been liberated” and the separatist forces “have taken control of a part” of the nearby road, the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic reported, through the application Telegram messenger.
The militia also reported that the separatists “have finally cut off the Avdiivka garrison from one of the two available supply routes.”
Along with pro-Russian militants, Vladimir Putin’s Army has been intensifying attacks in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, which has seen heavy fighting since the start of the large-scale attack.
- 06:15 (BOG) Germany announces delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine
The German government, which was criticized at the beginning of the conflict for its reluctance to support Ukraine militarily, will deliver a new weapons package to kyiv. Although this time it is about heavy weapons and the IRIS-T air defense system, as announced by Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz.
“More recently, the (German) government has decided that we will hand over the most modern air defense system that Germany has in shape, the IRIS-T,” Scholz told lawmakers in the Bundestag.
Berlin thus increases military aid, after pleas from kyiv and the German opposition parties.
However, Scholz defended that his administration had been “delivering (weapons) continuously since the beginning of the war”, pointing to more than 15 million rounds of ammunition, 100,000 grenades and more than 5,000 anti-tank mines.
- 5:53 (BOG) In the eyes of Russia, the United States “adds fuel to the fire”
Faced with the imminent shipment of advanced US rockets to Ukraine, the strong rejection of the Russian government was immediate and in the last hours it accused the United States of “increasing the risk” of a direct confrontation.
Moscow declared that it does not trust that the kyiv military will not launch them onto Russian soil, as Ukraine has promised the United States.
After NATO decided not to intervene in Ukraine despite the requests of the attacked country, the war launched by Vladimir Putin on February 28 is increasing in Donbass, where Russia is increasingly taking control of territories. Moscow, with military might greater than kyiv, resists any backing for Ukrainian defenses with Western weapons.
“We believe that the United States is deliberately adding fuel to the fire. Obviously, the US holds the line that it will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov added that his government sees Washington’s military aid to Ukraine as “extremely negative.”
“Attempts to present the decision as containing an element of ‘self-restraint’ are futile (…) The fact that the United States, at the head of a group of states, is engaged in deliberate arms pumping with the kyiv regime it’s obvious,” Ryabkov reproached.
- 5:38 (BOG) Joe Biden confirmed that he will send long-range weapons to Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with “advanced rocket systems” as part of a $700 million weapons package expected to be unveiled on Wednesday.
Those types of fire engines have the ability to accurately engage long-range Russian targets.
Senior officials said Washington would send the high-mobility artillery weapons after kyiv promised it would use them to defend itself inside its own territory, but would not launch assaults on Russian soil.
An informative summary of what @potus is doing.
I anticipate an announcement of Us sending HIMARS system (but not many) and GMLRS rounds in the next 24-48 hours. In my view, that is exactly the right call. https://t.co/fTedbLCEBC
— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) June 1, 2022
The package also includes ammunition, counterfire radars, a series of aerial surveillance radars, additional ‘Javelin’ anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armor weapons, the same sources indicated.
“I have decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket and ammunition systems that will allow them to attack key targets with greater precision on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Biden confirmed in an opinion piece published by ‘The New York Times’.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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